Rarely is an album title as fitting as Andrew Kidman's 2001 record, The Spaces In Between. Melancholy is the default setting for the surfer/musician/filmmaker and in his first solo album he began putting his ponderous thoughts to music.

It's a style that Kidman retained during the formation of The Brown Birds From Windy Hill and has continued into their current iteration, The Windy Hills.

Friend From Another Star is their third album and, at the risk of belittling their earlier work, it is the first album that sounds like it has a distinct purpose. On Friend From Another Star it sounds like each member, when they set off on the three minute journey, is well aware of the direction the last beat lies.

That's not to say they're in a hurry to reach it - there's no urgency and the music coasts under it's own steady cadence - but the ideas are more coherent and the songs better realised because of it. You want a crude description? OK, there's less noodling.

Yes, if in the past I were to accuse Kidman or the Windy Hills of anything it would be excess noodling. In creating their loose soundscapes the ideas diffused and lost impact. If part of the musical contract is to affect the listener then they were off target. At least for this listener.

But that's not the case with this album so I 'spose I should discuss it...

The third song, 'Atlantic City Ashes', will be familiar to those who saw Last Hope, as it was used in that movie. Its chorus is instantly recognisable and is the catchiest of all the songs on the album. I could almost imagine Kidman smiling when he sings it live. It ain't pop but is the closest thing to it he's done.

On 'Little Hawk' the Windy Hills take a tilt at Neil Young circa Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. With a guitar riffing large and Kidman's confidently laconic vocals it would sit comfortably alongside 'Cowgirl in the Sand' or 'Down by the River'.

Rather than going nowhere in a hurry, Friend From Another Star sees The Windy Hills going somewhere but taking their merry time. 

Friend From Another Star is released on Spunk and available from www.andrewkidman.com